COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONRorie’s Ale is a quadruple ale aged for one year in wine barrels with sour cherries. Brewed to celebrate the birth of our brewmaster Peter Hoey’s daughter this ale is designed to be cellared for years. Rich caramel, burnt sugar and spicy notes combine with the fruity cherry and sweet malt character for a complex sipping beer. This beer would pair well with lamb, duck and triple cream cheeses as well as transition seamlessly into dessert.

Bottle opened a couple years ago, finally entering review from notebook.
Snifter. Huge thanks for sharing, Dan.
A: Caramel colored body with a short-lived light tan head that faded into a thin collar.
S: Sweet cherries and red fruits, honey, and a slight caramel sweetness. The nose definitely has a strong woody barrel quality to it as well.
T: More caramel sweetness and wooden barrel than cherry or fruit sweetness. The cherry are decently faded and lend more of a tannic cherry pit/skin flavor than a juicy sweetness. Black cherry-like. The aftertaste has the suggestion of chocolate and honey.
M: Greasy, buttery aftertaste, greasy mouthfeel, smooth and extremely good. Low carbonation.
O: Definitely tasting of its age but I thoroughly enjoyed every drop of it. A woody black cherry caramel beer in the best kind of way. I wouldn’t wait much longer to open a bottle, but it’s still worth seeking out and trading for. Thanks again for sharing Dan!

Sampled at the Ratebeer gallery event… Wow. Rarely to Belgian quads live up to the hype for me, but this one was a big exception. It pours a cloudy amber brown with an off white head. The aroma is amazingly balanced with rich, dark fruits and bready, spicy yeast. The flavor is the same. So smooth and rich. Incredibly complex dark fruit character without any harsh phenols or alcohol. Wish I could’ve had more of this.

Dvelcich Dan and I made the trade for this bottle. Opened it at Zwanze Day 2012. Pours a murky brown in color, with a wisp of off-white head. Nose is rich brown sugar, dark fruit, raisin, some cherry, and some caramel. Great depth in the nose. Complex flavor in the character ilas well, rich malt, brown sugar, dark fruit, slightly tannic, and some booze. Light carbonation, boozy, medium mouthfeel, and a moderate finish. Great quad, and I generally dislike the style. Great depth, perfect nose, solid experience.

Dark pour with cherry highlights and a medium beige head. Nose is wine barrel with a fairly expressive malt character of raisin, port, earthy spices. Lots of strange complexity in the mouth -- aged port, ripe raisin and prune, cardamom seed, cinnamon. Super integration and complexity between the malt and port qualities. This is what McKenzie has been trying to do the last two years. Finish is strawberry jam which carries on for a good 30 seconds. Some light oxidation on the finish. Feel is fabulous, soft, thick, rich with a wash of tiny bubbles. You would have to enjoy port and barrel-forward beers to really appreciate this. Pretty great, maybe too barrel-forward for me even but it worked very well and it’s a pleasure to sip on.

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